Rajasthan Government directive on use of Deendayal Upadhyay logo

JAIPUR: It is not just the school textbooks alone! The official correspondence in Rajasthan too will have an RSS stamp on it in future. In a recent circular issued by Rajasthan's Department Of Information and Public Relations (DIPR), it has been stated that all the departments, boards, corporations, autonomous bodies and educational institutions will have the face of RSS icon Pt. Deendayal Upadhyay etched as a logo on all their advertisements.

The order mentions that the initiative is after a directive from the Centre as a part of the country-wide commemoration marking the birth centenary of Pt. Deendayal Upadhyaya, the founding member of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh. The Narendra Modi government has already named several programmes and schemes after Upadhyay.

In fact, the saffron party directed all its elected representatives, from the level of panchayats to the State Assembly in Rajasthan, to use a logo featuring a photograph of Upadhyaya on the letterheads. “We were shown a sample of the logo with photos of Upadhyaya and other BJP leaders. We have been directed to print the logo on letterheads within two or three days,” Shiv Singh Bhanot, Udaipur Mayor, said. The Opposition parties have decried the move. The Congress accused the BJP government of attempting to impose ‘Hindutva’ ideology.

Meanwhile, the State Education Department has circulated the same order to all the government schools and colleges for compliance. In fact, a few months ago, the BJP government in the State directed all secondary and senior secondary schools to buy a set each of 15 volumes on Deendayal Upadhyaya for their libraries.